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TMI Blog2024 (10) TMI 107X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... odrej are quite similar the Assessment Year was 2014-15; the show cause notice u/s 148A (b) came to be issued for the first time on 24 May, 2022; and the Section 148 notice came to be issued on 31 July, 2022. In the instant case, the notice u/s 148 was issued on 25 July, 2022 just about six days before the notice in Godrej. A plain reading of the foregoing would make it clear that the ruling in Godrej explicitly rules that the validity of a notice u/s 148 must be judged on the basis of the law as existing on the date of which the notice is issued. In the instant case, the deadline for issuance of notices for AY 2014-15 had expired on 31st March, 2021. Consequently, and evidently, the notice issued in the instant case was hopelessly barred b ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ssessment Year in question is 2014-15 for which the tax returns had been filed by the Assessee on 26 September, 2014. The notice under Section 148 has evidently been issued one year and 116 days after the expiry of 6 years since the end of the Assessment Year 2014-15 the applicable period of limitation under Section 149. 3. The Petitioner-Assessee has filed this Writ Petition asking for intervention of this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India on the premise that the proceedings are barred by limitation. 4. The Writ Petition also challenges the proceedings on the premise that the original notice under Section 148 was illegal at the very initiation of the reassessment, since the said notice had been issued by the Jurisdiction ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... under Section 149 of the Act. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in Ashish Agarwal (Supra) did not grant any stay and the period from 21st May 2021 till the notice under Section 148A (b) of the Act is issued cannot be excluded under the second limb of the fifth proviso or even under the first limb. 15. The validity of a notice must be judged on the basis of the law existing as on the date on which the notice is issued under Section 148 of the Act, which in the present case is 31st July 2022, by which time the Finance Act, 2021 is already on the statute and in terms thereof, no notice under Section 148 of the Act for AY 2014-15 could be issued on or after 1st April 2021 based on the first proviso to Section 149 of the Act. Therefore, the fifth p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Godrej explicitly rules that the validity of a notice under Section 148 must be judged on the basis of the law as existing on the date of which the notice is issued. In the instant case, the deadline for issuance of notices for Assessment Year 2014-15 had expired on 31st March, 2021. Consequently, and evidently, the notice issued in the instant case was hopelessly barred by limitation. Therefore, the 148 Notice issued indeed deserves to be quashed as being barred by limitation. 8. Learned Counsel for both Petitioner-Assessee as well as the Respondent-Revenue confirm the factual position found above. Consequently, in reliance upon the law declared in Godrej, the reassessment proceedings being barred by limitation, cannot be permitted to be c ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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